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No, the Heritage Foundation did not endorse Kamala Harris for president | Fact check

Joedy McCreary, USA TODAY
Updated ·4 min read

The claim: The Heritage Foundation endorsed Kamala Harris for president

An Oct. 26 Instagram post (direct link, archive link) shows a TikTok video of a woman speaking to the camera about a supposedly surprising endorsement.

“Well, well, well, guess who just got endorsed by the Heritage Foundation? Your girl Kamala Harris,” says the woman at the beginning of the video.

The Instagram was liked more than 600 times in five days. The video also circulated on other Instagram accounts and on TikTok.

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Our rating: False

A Heritage Foundation spokesperson said the claim is false. The post appears to misrepresent an endorsement of Harris by a former trustee of the group, which says he does not represent its views.

Claim distorts Harris endorsement from Heritage ex-trustee

The Heritage Foundation is a conservative think tank that, according to its mission statement, promotes small-government, free-market positions. The claim that the group endorsed Harris for president is “100% false,” spokesperson Marguerite Bowling told USA TODAY.

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Bowling described Heritage as “a nonpartisan organization that does not endorse any candidate.” Its website states that it does not work on behalf of any special interest or political party.

Fact check: Project 2025 calls to reform, not close, FEMA

The organization does, however, share significant common ground with Republicans, making a supposed endorsement of a Democratic candidate even more implausible. Foundation President Kevin Roberts, referring to GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump and the policies he favors, told The New York Times in January that he views the group’s role as “institutionalizing Trumpism.” Ohio Sen. JD Vance, Trump’s running mate, wrote the foreword for Roberts’ forthcoming book, praising Heritage as the “most influential engine of ideas for Republicans.”

The claim appears to misrepresent the endorsement Harris received from Mickey Edwards, a former Heritage trustee and ex-GOP House member who voiced his support for Harris in a September op-ed in The Philadelphia Inquirer. Edwards has not been involved with Heritage since the 1970s, The Oklahoman reported. In response to the endorsement, the group said in a Sept. 30 X post that Edwards “does not represent the Heritage Foundation.”

No proof Harris supports Project 2025

The video contains multiple other baseless claims. One asserts that Harris has, in turn, endorsed the group’s Project 2025 agenda.

Heritage teamed with more than 100 other conservative groups for Project 2025, also known as the Presidential Transition Project. It produced a more than 900-page playbook with policy recommendations for the next Republican president reflecting the organization's goal of "(rescuing) the country from the grip of the radical Left."

There is no credible evidence Harris supports that set of proposals. Rather, an entire section of Harris’ campaign website lays out how she and her team believe it will "take your power, your control and your money." Nothing on that page can reasonably be read as any type of endorsement of it. Attacking Project 2025 has been a hallmark of her campaign – and she has drawn direct criticism from Heritage for it – as shown in her ads and social media videos from her campaign.

The Instagram video gets another thing wrong. The woman at one point says Joe Biden “stepped down as President of the United States.” That’s not true, either. While Biden dropped out of the presidential race following his widely panned performance in a debate with Trump, he continues to serve as president.

USA TODAY previously debunked false claims that Project 2025 is a plan from Trump, proposes a military draft for all seniors in public schools and calls for the closing of the National Hurricane Center.

USA TODAY reached out to the Instagram and TikTok users who shared the video but did not immediately receive responses.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: False claim Heritage Foundation endorsed Kamala Harris | Fact check